dot me not Posted February 8, 2003 Report Share Posted February 8, 2003 Got an approx. 14 month old ewe that had her first lamb last night. She's eating well (alfalfa and grass mix) and seems to be taking good care of the lamb but I noticed her shivering (it's 30 degrees here today so not too cold) so I took her temp and it's 102.4. That prompted me to go ahead and take the lamb's temp and it's 103.4. What to do now??? The lamb is nursing but not like I think she should be and she's not playing at all. I don't think the ewe has retained the placenta because there's nothing hanging from her vulva. Thanks in advance, Lydia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PrairieFire Posted February 8, 2003 Report Share Posted February 8, 2003 First thing I do with a ewe not looking well that close after birth is a drench of glucose if it looks like an emergency, or a handful of dry molasses on grain if it isn't... No bleeding? I've also been known to give a new ewe a bucket of very warm water with liquid molasses in it under those conditions... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi44 Posted February 8, 2003 Report Share Posted February 8, 2003 TSC carries a product called Nutridrench (get the one for sheep or goats) that may help - it's glucose with vitamins and stuff. If the lamb isn't eating enough, check to be sure the ewe is producing milk (make sure it's "normal" milk; if the udder is infected, it will be greenish and/or really thick - not to be mistaken with colostrum in the first 24 hours or so that is yellow and thicker than normal milk). If you're not sure the ewe is producing enough milk, TSC also carries milk replacer for lambs. You can either pull the lamb and feed it full-time, or just try supplementing it and see if that helps. I'm not a vet, but I would also give an antibiotic injection - LA200 is a good all-arounder. Check with your local vet to see what he/she recommends. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikw Posted February 8, 2003 Report Share Posted February 8, 2003 Lydia, Molasses in warm water is the way I would go too. Don't get to worried if the ewe lamb seems like she's not producing too much milk,new borns don't drink a whole lot. Also,high temp on lamb could be the flash. Lambs and cats are the only species when streesed,their body temperatures rises in a falsh to the point of sweating. Cats known to calm down but lambs will continue to do so when handled by strangers. Placenta retaining,over 24 hours after lambing requires different medication than Oxytocin. You could only get the required amount from a large head veterinarian. As long as ewe is eating,she should be fine. If she'll start to stand up a lot while others are flocked/eating and/or grinds her teeth,then you have a problem. Score her body condition,if there's quite a bit fat layer covering her back bone and spine,I would start CMP (Calcium therapy) right away and in great amounts. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dot me not Posted February 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2003 She has no bleeding either. The lamb has emptied out the colostrum since last night and the ewe is producing nice clean looking milk. I went ahead and gave her some oats with lots of molasses on them which she readily ate. She's not shivering anymore either. I'll go ahead and carry some warm water ( I have a horse I have to do that for also.) If you think it's OK I'll give her a slug of LA200 anyone know the dosage off the top of their heads?? Is 103.4 a little high for a lamb? I just talked with a vet (who doesn't do much large animal work but he's the one on call today) and he wasn't concerned about the temp. I thought normal was 101-102degrees, but I certainly ain't no sheep expert. Thanks again, Lydia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dot me not Posted February 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2003 Oh, and I don't have access to any liquid molasses. What about Karo syrup?? I always have that on hand for my HYPP positive horse. Is it just the sugar she needs? Lydia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PrairieFire Posted February 8, 2003 Report Share Posted February 8, 2003 By the way, a normal sheep temp range is 101-104... And keep an eye out for scours - and a buildup of hard poop around the babies, errr, elimination area... Karo syrup is good - I use it as a major ingredient in my homemade (cheap) electrolyte solution - 1 gallon warm water, 4 tablespoons corn syrup, 2 teaspoons table salt, 2 teaspoons baking soda. Much cheaper than storebought. I do give newborns a shot of Nutridrench - If I can get 'em without disturbing mama too much - I don't jug and don't want to disturb them too much in the first hour or two... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PrairieFire Posted February 8, 2003 Report Share Posted February 8, 2003 Oh, forgot... LA-200 dosage is 2-3cc per 100#...I've been known to double that in emergencies...but a bottle of antibiotics at my place usually expires before I use it all - my girls so seldom get it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fosher Posted February 9, 2003 Report Share Posted February 9, 2003 Lydia, Because I don't think anything you've mentioned indicates infection, I wouldn't give the LA-200. For one thing, it hurts like hell. For another, there's the whole issue of antibiotic resistance. Use them when they're needed, use them at the high end of allowed dosages, and use them for the full course. Then there's the fact that oxytetracycline isn't labeled for sheep and you shouldn't be using it without instructions from a vet, which none of us are unless I'm mistaken. For what it's worth, I keep Biomycin 200 on hand. It's oxytetracycline with a non-stinging carrier. The shivering made me wonder about hypocalcemia, also known as milk fever, which Inci also was thinking about apparently. If you've been alfalfa or other calcium-rich feeds through late gestation, you might have set up a situation where the ewe doesn't have sufficient stores of the mineral to keep up with milk production. Becuase the body is getting a high level of calcium in the bloodstream every day, it doesn't mobilize calcium from the skeleton properly, and a defecit can rapidly become a problem. This problem would be especially pronounced in a hogget, who is still growing herself. Liquid molasses is available at all the grocery stores up here. I usually buy a gallon jug from a restaurant supply house just before lambing starts. Unlike Karo, molasses has a strong scent that attracts the sheep to the water or feed. It also is richer in vitamins and minerals than Karo. Karo is probably a better source of directly available glucose. None of the temperatures you mentioned are alarming. A young lamb's temperature will vary all over the place. It eats and gets very warm very quickly. Until its next meal, it will cool down. The ewe's temp is right in the normal band. A starving lamb will be loud until it starts to become hypothermic. As it chills, it will stand with its back hunched and call out. It will become dehydrated. (Check for this by pinching a fold of skin along the spine. It should snap right back. If it doesn't, you've got problems.) The lack of play that you describe could simply be due to a rough birth (hoggets are smaller, after all, and single lambs can be large). It also seems to me that single lambs are slower to start playing -- particularly if they are jugged with their dam -- than twins or triplets. They don't have anyone to play with. If it's getting milk, it's not dehydrated or hunchy, and the poop is seeming okay, you're better off leaving well enough alone. We shepherds tend to cause more problems than we solve by unintentionally interfering with the bonding process between a ewe and her lambs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dot me not Posted February 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2003 Thanks everyone for the help. Just as an update-- Today the ewe is perfectly normal. She is eating like a pig and is a VERY overprotective mama. She actually tried(and just almost succeeded) to smash the barn cat against the wall. You know a cat is a cat, be it mountain lion or barn cat, they all have a taste for lamb! The lamb is just fine now too. I noticed her last evening trying pretty hard to poop but not getting anywhere, so I threatend her with an enema. Actually had the thing in my hand ready to administer and she produced a nice bit of meconium. After that she started running laps around the stall. Literally, it was that fast! Makes me think that her tummy hurt and that may have been why she wasn't playing, 'cause she's sure tearing it up now! So all is well with them now. Unfortunately I went back out for the third time to the field where the sheep stay to be absolutely sure there wasn't a twin. Well, there was a twin, a little ram, that was waaay off from where we found the live baby. We went back out there the night they were born with a flashlight and I was back out there yesterday looking but the field was still heavily covered with snow and I just missed him. Don't know if he was born dead or died later. The only reason I found him today was because we're over 40degrees and the snow has melted almost completely so I could see him against the dark ground. Now if that ewe had twins the first time around I'm thinking my other two may as well. I went ahead and put them in a stall with the first mama so I can keep an eye on them. They're HUGE, much bigger than the first ewe so maybe I should watch for triplets? Oh Lord, surely not as first time mamas!! I thought sheep generally had singles the first time!! Thanks again guys. I'll eventually catch on to sheep birthing but may be a little edgy thru the first few. Lydia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fosher Posted February 10, 2003 Report Share Posted February 10, 2003 Hi Lydia, It'd be pretty unusual for a hogget to have triplets. In my experience with moderately prolific breeds, hoggets will usually produce about an 80 percent lamb crop. Some will have twins, most will have singles, and some will have no lamb at all. With highly prolific breeds (Finnsheep, Romanov, Polypay) you may see a hogget lamb crop closer to 110 percent as you'll have more twins, the occasional triplet, and fewer open. I raised purebred Finnsheep for about three years, and I can only remember one set of triplets from a hogget. The adults had quads and quints pretty regularly; triplets were unremarkable. If you hold off and wait to breed them until they are yearlings (so they're lambing for the first time at 24 months of age) they should lamb at very near the rate of adult sheep of their breed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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